Thursday, February 19, 2009

Carving A Wax Penny

You recall my sacred sword substitute, a steak knife, was one that was used to shave candle wax, trying to get the candle down to a manageable height in relation to the depths the wick had eaten itself.

Today I was with a couple of my sacred candles. I have this one, poured for me by some lady, that acts up all the time. It can't manage the ratio between wax and wick/flame height. Somehow it gets more wax than it manages to eat, the wax overloads the entire system, the flame is just a tiny flicker, and it's buggy. So I have to tip it up, waste the wax by spilling it like Onan, then the flame gets back its life and we're on the right track.

While involved in this activity, I had my sacred knife. I scraped away some wax from the place I poured it the last few days. With the passage of many days the wax had hardened; it really doesn't take long till it solidifies. Now, this involves a penny, and I think was a fairly good move on my part. It gave me a real sense of things being reversed, and that's a lesson I can stand to learn (or be reminded of) occasionally.

I poured the wax out. It looked about the size of a big button. Then I went on with my activities, reading and fiddling with my knife. After a few minutes I suddenly had the thought, why not put this penny on top of the wax button? So without further ado, that's what I did. It settled in snugly. Next I pressed down on top of it gently. Finally I picked off the penny -- another task for the knife -- and I managed to have a perfect reversal in wax of the penny's face.

That was weird to see. Lincoln looking the other way. The date reversed. Liberty spelled backwards. It was a mirror image of itself. Blew my mind. And taught an important lesson, which I could summarize as this: Whatever is happening in your life has an opposite. Does that make any sense?

UPDATE (12:24 p.m.) - Oh, I think I just made a major boo boo. I was sitting here after lunch and reached over and used my sacred knife to pick my teeth. More than once. Once should have been enough, since it seriously smells and tastes like candle wax, whatever the fragrance is. Uck. There needs to be a separation between the sacred and the profane, and now I've transgressed. What might become of me? I haven't felt this bad since that time I used holy water to clean dirt off my shoes.

No comments:

Uncle Sam needs you.

In these weird times, be a good citizen.

I'm changing this copy block. That's big, that means something.

Friends, I've got a major burden in my mind, in my system. It's a burning thing, with enough churning going on as well it keeps me up nights. I don't know what to do about it entirely. But my choices are limited. It's either bring the thing to some kind of fruition or die with it on the vine. See my burden, my choices come down to an imperative. I must bring it to some kind of fruition, not knowing what it will be when it's born. I'm not only afraid for myself (men aren't built to pass something like this), I'm also afraid for what could be unleashed on the world. Is it evil or merely stupid? Both those choices came to mind, instantly, but I'm not sure either word applies. Let's hold on to those words for a bit though, because the mind doesn't lie. The evil in it at the very least is the enormity of the burden. The stupidity of it might be worse, but what choice do I actually have? If it claws its way from my gut, my midsection, that too would be a mess. And writing it, posting it on this blog might be the only thing to save me. To bring it forth day by day rather than letting it claw through me in one enormous devilish push. But I must let it grow! How do I know this? I just do! Come back in the weeks ahead, or perhaps wiser counsel would be AVOID THIS BLOG LIKE THE PLAGUE, the *hi* is gonna hit the fan...